-Pulling out of the Paris climate accords – Syria is the other non-participant;-Pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal - five major countries and the UN are trying to salvage it;-Pulling out of discussions on the migration issue;-Not signing the Rights of the Child convention – Somalia is the other non-signatory; -Not a party to the convention on the use of land mines – more than 80% of the world has signed it;-Upholding the death penalty;-Introducing tariffs, mainly hitting countries friendly to the US;-Recognizing Jerusalem (not just West Jerusalem) as Israel’s capital – together with two small Latin American countries;-Dropping the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal;-Questioning the NAFTA agreement;-Building walls;-Cutting back on opening to Cuba;-Lax or no gun regulations;-Withdrawing from UNESCO;-Defunding UNFPA;-Defunding UNRWA;-Planning to reduce US contributions to the UN’s regular and peace-keeping budgets;-Defunding family planning services domestically and internationally;-Planning to spend more than a trillion dollars to upgrade its nuclear arsenal;-Arm-twisting NATO members to contribute more while not paying the ‘recommended’ 0.7 % of GDP in development assistance (US pays about 0.2 %, half of which goes to Israel and Egypt);-Threatening UN member states – Nicki Haley (US ambassador to the UN) saying that she will be “taking names” of countries voting against the US;-More funds for Pentagon and less for the State Department, i.e. more for war and less for talk;-Disparaging other countries (s... h… countries).-Conducting foreign policy via Twitter

Most of the points above are relevant to the work of the wider UN system.​It should be a concern when ‘friends’ are becoming increasingly blunt in their criticism of the US. When, for example, the EU’s top official, Donald Tusk, says the following about the US: “With friends like that, who needs enemies.” (NYT 17/5 18), and the German magazine Der Spiegel writes: “Our relationship to the United States cannot currently be called a friendship and can hardly be referred to as a partnership.” (NYT 16/5 18). Almost 100 years ago, Woodrow Wilson was the main person behind the establishment of the League of Nations, which the US ended up not joining. The US was also the primary actor in creating the United Nations back in 1945 and its headquarters is in New York -- but is the US reconsidering its participation? The UN needs the US and the US needs the UN - or will it be further ‘islandization’? And can we as UNA do something to curtail this?​